ABOUT MY DREAM

Preparing to depart Penticton BC

Lots of people have flying dreams – whether flying like a bird, or at the controls of an airplane. I have had both kinds. I can't remember when they started, or if they were always there.

As a kid, I built model airplanes, filled scrapbooks with pictures of the latest, hottest jets, and learned everything possible about aviation.

At one point I discovered a scrap yard full of bombers and fighters left over from World War II, and it became a secret world where I would stay for hours, imagining myself at the controls of one airplane or another.

Later, in high school, an eye exam showed I needed glasses, ending any hopes of flight training in the military or a career in the airlines. I considered flying lessons, but always lacked either the time or the money.

I never stopped dreaming.

Retirement from Microsoft in 2001 allowed me to pursue my dream at last, and I went directly from the retirement luncheon to the local airport to sign up for flight training.

One day a few years ago, while beginning a takeoff roll, my mind flashed back to that scrap yard as if it were yesterday, and the kid who wanted to fly.  Seconds later I was flying.

Have you ever dreamed you were flying?